Mr. John Sherwin:

If one was to have a takeaway from this meeting, the three points we are really trying to get across are that we have a strategic plan and position paper on deaf education, on which we would like engagement with the Department of Education. We have been trying to get engagement and have been ignored regarding our proposal for both the home tuition scheme and our general approach to education, which is backed up with an international precedent. The Department is not engaging with us. We would like to have engagement - that is one point. The second is that we need core funding for the engagement to be meaningful so that we have the resources to report, respond and contribute. The final point is a call for research into issues related to deaf people. It is sparse. Without evidence-based research, it is difficult to create effective plans. Those are the three takeaways - contact with the Department of Education, core funding and research are what we are trying to communicate.